Page 102 of Antihero

A wobble: “Wh-why not?”

“Because I am heading to Tyler Russell right now,” Evan said.

He hung up, punched the address into nav, selected a twenty-three-minute route, and started off.

This was going to be the shortest fucking Nowhere Man mission ever.

40Do I Look Scared?

The fourth home on the east side of the street was much like its neighbors, interwar single-story houses on postage-stamp lots, tended with pride. A working-class community with great working-class character, one of the few in Los Angeles that had neither genericized with gentrification nor degenerated into poverty.

Front walk of concrete pavers, wicker chairs on a narrow porch, screen door and open windows compensating for no central AC. A few dead potted plants, a scattering of shoes by the doormat, a metal baseball bat propped by the jamb.

Evan’s hostility toward Tyler Russell had quickened with proximity.

I told you what would happen if you didn’t pick up when I called.

Kenzie’s mission had high emotional stakes and low operational risk. Despite the latter, he upheld the Third Commandment—Master your surroundings—taking several drive-bys, assessing the house from the rear alley, and acquainting himself with the surrounding network of streets.

He parked the Ford F-150 across the street and one house up, the built-to-spec push-bumper assembly pointed for Victory Boulevard. For his escape route he could head to the 1–5 and down to the tangle of the 134. If things got sporty, as Tommy used to say, he could jog northwest and lose himself in airport traffic.

Before he could get out, the RoamZone chimed.

Joey: y r u ignoring me?

Even from across the street, he spotted shadows moving beyond the screen door. The golden retriever barked and barked some more.

He swiped Joey’s text off the screen and called Candy.

“How is she?” he asked.

“We’re back at the hospital.”

“What happened?”

“She had a seizure at work. The convulsions, they tore some of her, um, stitches. She’s having them redone.”

Evan shut his eyes, breathed.

But Kenzie, I haven’t even told you what I want yet.

“X? You there?”

“Yeah. Jesus.”

“Right.”

“Is she okay?”

“She doesn’t complain.”

“No,” Evan said. “She doesn’t.”

“But you can bet it’s retraumatizing as fuck for her in there.”

“Right.”

“Those guys, those fucking animals. Do you think they have any idea?”